Montaigne on Barbarism essays

Montaigne on Barbarism essays Montaigne wrote that, Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice. He describes that we as people are not very accepting of others, who are not like ourselves. If they do not do things the way we do, we call them barbarians. We are as a society very close minded and do not take the time to understand people who are different from us. Instead, we believe that since that do not do things like we do, then there must be something wrong with them. Although he wrote his essay in the 16th century, we can very much still apply his ideas to Americans in todays society. One area where Montaignes essay applies is in the debate over whether gays or lesbians should have the right to get married. Many people are used to a marriage being between a man and a wife and refuse to believe that it can be any other way. These people do not even want the marriage to be called a civil union, because they feel that it is not right for people of the same sex to become a legal couple. They them faggots or dykes and some refuse to even be in the same room as them. Another group of people in todays society where Americans are not accepting of them is people of Arabic descent. After the attack of America, these people were singled out due to the extremists from their home country. Even if these people were American citizens, they were harassed and discriminated against. People admitted to looking over their shoulder when they believed that someone was near them that could have originally come from a terrorist country. Some people refused to get on airplanes if there was someone on the plane who was Arabic descent. These people are labeled as terrorists, even if that is not the case. Still another area in which Americans tend to not be accepting of our own people is when some people see a younger person with tattoos, body piercings, or dyed hair. Someone who is more conservativ...